Chris Christie said he was on a 'mission' to help the residents of his state recover from Superstorm Sandy and show a dysfunctional Washington government how things 'should be done' as he easily won re-election as Governor of New Jersey last night.

With 94 percent of precincts reporting, Christie had 60 percent of the vote to Democratic state Sen. Barbara Buono's 39 percent, putting him en route to become the first Republican in a quarter-century to receive more than 50 percent of the New Jersey vote.

This, in a state that President Barack Obama carried a year ago by more than 17 points, his biggest margin in the nation.

But despite Christie's suspected ambitions to run for President in 2016, his victory speech's only mention of national issues was an attack on the 'dsyfunctional' federal government, and he concentrated on mainly his state's recovery from last year's Superstorm Sandy.

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V for victory: Early results showed Chris Christie, pictured with his wife and children, was leading his opponent 61 per cent to 37 per cent

Number one: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie enters the stage with his wife Mary Pat as they celebrate his election night victory with supporters in Asbury Park, New Jersey.

Jubilant: A beaming Christie took the stage inside the Asbury Park convention center to deliver his victory speech

Political dig: Christie stressed the difference between the dysfunctional federal government and his own pragmatic approach to running the state

Just before 10.15pm Tuesday, a beaming Christie took the stage
inside the Asbury Park convention center to deliver his victory speech.

Flanked
by his family, a jubilant second-term governor began his address by
thanking New Jersey voters for making him ‘the luckiest guy in the
world.’

After touting his credentials as a born-and-bred New Jersey native who needs no introduction to his constituents, the 51-year-old
governor said he had received a call from his Democratic opponent, who
graciously congratulated him on his win.

In the course of 15-minute
speech delivered inside a convention center packed with cheering
supporters, Christie stressed the difference between the dysfunctional
federal government and his pragmatic, no-nonsense approach to running
the state.

'It is possible to put doing your job first, to put working together first, to fight for what you believe in yet still stand by your principles and get something done for the people who elected you,' Christie told hundreds of supporters.

'I know that if we can do this in Trenton, New Jersey, maybe the folks in Washington, D.C. should tune in their TVs right now and see how it's done,' he added.

Taking it all in: Mary Pat Christie laughs at the jokes that her husband Chris made to reporters after voting in Mendham, New Jersey on Tuesday

Happy day: Chris Christie easily won his reelection bid after leading by 20 points in the
latest polls

Christie
devoted a large part of his victory speech to the state’s recovery
efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, which he dubbed his
‘mission,’ saying that he will not stop working until every resident
affected by the storm is made whole again.

‘I will never stop
leading the state I love,’ Christie stressed, pledging to govern the
state through his second term in the unifying spirit of Sandy.

The
GOP governor sounded a bipartisan note, telling the crowd that while
some people may not agree with the things he does or says, his goal has
always been to be everyone’s governor and to get the job done.

Christie
concluded his monologue by thanking his team for running a ‘flawless
campaign,’ and also expressing gratitude for the efforts of his cabinet
and aides, who have spent the past year working on the post-storm
recovery.

Christie
was clear during the campaign that if he decides to run for an even
bigger title- as he has been loudly considered a possible presidential
nominee- he will have no problem leaving office before his second term
as governor comes to a close.

According to CNN exit polls, Christie took 56 per cent of the female vote, won all ages groups except for the 18-to-29 demographic, and carried a fifth of the African-American vote and 45 per cent of Latinos.

Not surprisingly, the charismatic GOP incumbent did well within his own party, taking 94 per cent of the Republican vote, but also won over third-thirds of Independents and three in 10 Democrats.

Keep smiling: Barbara Buono went up against Christie after working as a state senator and she used her campaign to paint him as an ambitious conservative out for only himself

Casting her vote: Buono, with her husband Martin Gizzi standing behind her, signs in at the voting station

Mrs Buono was the first of the two to cast her vote, wearing a blue skirt suit and waving to fans at the Metuchen polling station.

DOUBLING DOWN ON LEAK

Christie commented for the first time about the fact that a member of Mitt Romney's campaign staff leaked the New Jersey governor's private vetting file to two reporters writing a book about the 2012 campaign.

In the files, several potentially embarrassing disclosures were made about Christie's past including lawsuits and favoritism when it comes to awarding state contracts.

'When it came to light a few months ago that it had leaked, Mitt called me right away, and I could tell he was really embarrassed and outraged about it and I think thats the kind of reaction that the person in charge should have,' Christie said in an interview with CNN on Election Day.

The authors of the book in question, Double Down, have not revealed their source but it had to be someone within Romney's inner circle.

Christie brushed off the issue, but said that it was clearly a reflection of someone's feelings against him and not the handful of other Republicans vetted by Romney's team who had similar files.

'There's nothing in there that I have a huge problem with and it seems it only happened to me,' he said.

Christie spent much of the past week traveling across the state in an effort to ensure voter turnout, and if his supporters cast their vote, he may become the first Republican governor to win a state-wide office by more than 50 per cent since former President George H.W. Bush did so in 1988.

Christie was last seen on Monday, making the rounds at a series of campaign stops including one photo opp at a bakery in Hillside.

The Republican's weight has been an issue of public debate ever since he was considered as a possible Vice Presidential candidate for Mitt Romney last year.

'We're a little more than halfway to my goal in the last 8 months and I sleep better and the biggest difference to me is that I didn't feel badly at my previous weight but I didn't realize how badly I slept which is bad for my staff because I have more energy than I did before which I didn't think was possible.'

He has repeatedly brushed off the
concerns about his health by saying it is a personal issue but he also
announced in May that he had undergone lap-band surgery two months prior
to help combat his obesity.

As
part of his campaign, Christie allowed his doctor to give a report on
his health status saying that the 51-year-old has been 'losing weight
steadily' since the February operation.

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Christie was listed as part of Mitt
Romney's short list for vice presidential candidates, and the campaign
tell-all 'Double Down', as reported by Time, shows that the candidate's team used fish-themed nicknames for each of the secret subjects.

Get in there: Governor Chris Christie shakes the hand of a worker at the Oasis Pastry Shop in Hillside, New Jersey during a campaign stop on Monday, just hours before polls open in his re-election bid

Steering clear: The Republican governor's weight has been a concern for some political operatives and may have been a contributing factor for why he was passed over in the choice of Mitt Romney's vice presidential selection

Being good: Since having lap-band surgery in February, Christie's doctor said that he is half way towards his weight goal but would not disclose what that number was

As such, Christie was given the moniker 'pufferfish'.

The latest poll conducted by Monmouth University reported by PolitickerNJ,
has Christie beating his Democratic opponent Barbara Buono by 20
points, with him winning the race 57 per cent to 37 per cent.

His
campaign staff were not the only ones who expected a victory, as the
Democratic Governor's Association only spent $5,000 to support his
competitor.

Christie
becomes his party's biggest winner on a night in which the GOP was
expected to lose a gubernatorial election in Virginia that featured
conservative firebrand Ken Cuccinelli.

Christie,
in contrast, painted himself as a pragmatic leader who worked with
Democrats to get the job done during his four years in office.

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Backed
by soaring approval ratings for his leadership after Superstorm Sandy,
the no-nonsense governor built a winning coalition by aggressively
courting constituencies that often shun the GOP: minorities, women and
even Democrats, who outnumber Republicans among registered voters by
more than 3-to-2.

Christie,
who is openly considering running for president, has said his success
offers a template for broadening the GOP's appeal after the disastrous
2012 election cycle and the party's record-low approval ratings
following the recent government shutdown.

Christie
will take over later this month as chairman of the Republican Governors
Association, a position that will further raise his national profile.

Many directions: Even if he is re-elected on Tuesday, he has said that he would consider running for President in 2016 which would force him to leave the governorship before his term ends

The Christie campaign spent $11.5million on TV and radio ads, compared with Buono's $2.1million, according to SMG Delta, a Virginia-based firm that tracks political spending.

Buono repeatedly tried to use Christie's presidential ambitions against him, accusing him of putting his interests ahead of New Jersey's.

She supported gay marriage and abortion rights, while Christie opposes both. When it became clear last month that the New Jersey Supreme Court would rule in favor of gay marriage, Christie dropped an appeal, allowing the practice to become legal in the state.

During a debate less than a month ago, Christie admitted he might not serve out his full second term should he launch a White House bid.

‘I won't make those decisions until I have to,’ he said.

Facing a skeptical moderator, he replied in the usual blunt, you-gotta-be-kidding-me manner that has proved appealing to voters of both parties: ‘I can walk and chew gum at the same time. I can do this job and also deal with my future.’